North America

TEGUCIGALPA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Honduran presidential candidate Xiomara Castro was headed for a landslide win as presidential election results rolled in on Monday, and looked set to put the left back in power 12 years after her husband was ousted in a coup.

Castro, who would be the Central American nation's first female president, has promised big changes in Honduras including a constitutional overhaul, United Nations support in the fight against corruption, and looser abortion restrictions.

NEW YORK (AP) — With an expanded definition to reflect the times, Merriam-Webster has declared an omnipresent truth as its 2021 word of the year: vaccine.

“This was a word that was extremely high in our data every single day in 2021,” Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor-at-large, told The Associated Press ahead of Monday’s announcement.

CHICAGO (AP) — Two brothers stand at the center of the case that prosecutors will lay before jurors when the trial of Jussie Smollett begins this week.

The former “Empire” actor contends he was the victim of a racist and homophobic assault in downtown Chicago on a frigid night in January 2019. The siblings, who worked with him on the TV show, say he paid them $3,500 to pose as his attackers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Before last year’s presidential election, Facebook ads targeting Latino voters described Joe Biden as a communist. During his inauguration, another conspiracy theory spread online and on Spanish-language radio warning that a brooch worn by Lady Gaga signaled Biden was working with shadowy, leftist figures abroad.

And in the final stretch of Virginia’s election for governor, stories written in Spanish accused Biden of ordering the arrest of a man during a school board meeting.

29 Nov 2021; MEMO: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said yesterday that the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories is a challenge to international peace and security.

His remarks came in a tweet which marked the International Day in Solidarity with Palestine.

"On #PalestineDay, let's reaffirm commitment to the Palestinian people in their quest to achieve their rights & build a future of peace & dignity for both Palestinians & Israelis," Guterres tweeted.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper claims in a lawsuit against the Defense Department that material is being improperly withheld from his use as he seeks to publish an “unvarnished and candid memoir” of his time in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious diseases expert, blasted Sen. Ted Cruz for suggesting that Fauci be investigated for statements he made about COVID-19 and said the criticism by the Texas Republican was an attack on science.

NEW YORK, November 28. /TASS/: Russia’s Sputnik V anti-coronavirus vaccine may offer a slightly better protection against the omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2, in comparison with other vaccines, Professor of the School of Systems Biology of the George Mason University (Virginia, US) Ancha Baranova told TASS.

NEW YORK, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- The United States is still paying for former President Donald Trump's tariff policy towards China, The New York Times has reported.

In an opinion piece published recently, the American daily newspaper pointed out that "instead of making long-term investments to help companies to compete, however, the government has decided to limit competition, a lazy approach that is both expensive and counterproductive."

Taxing imports from China seems to punish China, but actually the cost of the tariffs is paid by Americans, said the report.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and Russian ambassadors urged to stop using "value-based diplomacy" to provoke division and confrontation at this critical time that stronger coordination and cooperation are in urgent need in addressing an array of global challenges including the COVID-19 and climate change.

Chinese Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang and Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov made the remarks in their co-authored article Respecting People's Democratic Rights published on The National Interest website on Friday.